Bishops concerned about religious liberty

Dennis Sadowski|
Catholic News Service

1/01/70

Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., has been named the new chairman of the bishops' Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty.

WASHINGTON - Saying they are increasingly distressed over
government policies that promote contraception, abortion and
same-sex marriage and amount to an assault on religious
freedom, the U.S. bishops have established a committee to
shape public policy and coordinate the Church's response on
the issue.

The Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty was announced
Sept. 30 by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York,
president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Bishop
William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., was named chairman of
the new committee.

"There is a common and factually grounded perception that
religious liberty is increasingly under assault at the state
and federal level in the United States, whether through
unfriendly legislation or through rules and regulations that
impede or tend to impede the work of the Church," Bishop Lori
told Catholic News Service Sept. 30, explaining the
motivation for forming the committee.

"Hopefully, we will raise up the issue for the entire
Catholic community in the United States," he said. "We will
help educate about the issue and hopefully there will be good
and effective action."

Bishop Lori has been a public defender of religious liberty
over the last year. In October 2010 he issued "Let Freedom
Ring: A Pastoral Letter on Religious Freedom," which
carefully laid out an argument that some legislative efforts
in the government seemed to be aimed solely at the Catholic
Church.

He also addressed the topic at the National Catholic Prayer
Breakfast in April.

Bishop Lori said the USCCB has discussed its concerns about
restrictions on religious freedom repeatedly, most recently
at its June meeting in suburban Seattle and again when the
administrative committee met in Washington in mid-September.

In his announcement, Archbishop Dolan said that committee
members will work with a variety of national organizations,
ecumenical and interreligious partners, charities and
scholars to "form a united and forceful front in defense of
religious freedom in our nation."

"Never before have we faced this kind of challenge in our
ability to engage in the public square as people of faith and
as a service provider," the archbishop said in a statement.
"If we do not act now, the consequence will be grave."

Archbishop Dolan cited a series of actions at various levels
of government that pose dangers to the free exercise of
religion. Specifically, he pointed to the narrow religious
exemption in New York in regard to same-sex marriage, the
Justice Department's recent argument that the support of
traditional marriage as defined in the Defense of Marriage
Act amounted to bigotry, and the requirement by the
Department of Health and Human Services that the USCCB's
Migration and Refugee Services provide the "full range of
reproductive service" - including abortion and contraception
- to trafficking victims in its cooperative agreements and
government contracts.

He also repeated the U.S. bishops' concern about Health and
Human Services regulations that would mandate the coverage of
contraception and sterilization in all private health
insurance plans while failing to protect insurers and
individuals with religious or moral objections to the
mandate.

"As shepherds of over 70 million U.S. citizens we share a
common and compelling responsibility to proclaim the truth of
religious freedom for all and so to protect our people from
this assault which now appears to grow at an
ever-accelerating pace in ways most us could never have
imagined," Archbishop Dolan said.